Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Lower Pierce Reservoir - Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park Walk

This walk covers three areas. First the trails down the reserve. The reservoir goes next and finally Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park. The starting point is at Old Upper Thomson Road near Yio Chu Kang Rd. The nearest access point is the Carpark at Casuarina Road. The nearest bus stop is ID 56039. Available buses are 163, 167, 169, 855, 980.

The trail starts at Casuarina CarPark. Walk down the right side of the Old Upper Thomson Rd. You will see an information board besides a trail bridge.
If you look down at the trail bridge, you can actually see the trail name. This trail seems to be very quiet. I only see three individual or groups walking on the trail.
This trail bridge will lead to another information board where the Oncospemum Trails is.
You could exit back to Old Upper Thomson Rd if you turn left. I choose to turn right instead to the Reservoir.

The Oncospermum Trail is a bridge trail mostly over the edge of the reservoir. At the end of the trail, you will come across a fishing area marked as thus
The reservoir walk is an embankment of the reservoir. Here you can see quite a number of people taking a walk or jog.
Very interesting thing to observe is the ground. There are many areas that have grasses uprooted like this.
It is actually the work of Wild boars. You can see it all over the reservoir area. Unfortunately, there is no a single wild boar in sight.

The path come to an abrupt end at the flood gate. Beyond it is the Singapore Country Club golf course. One alternative is to walk back and take the road linking the reservoir to Old Upper Thomson Road. I choose to be more adventurous and walked along the flood gate drain. It is narrow and not a proper path.
Here you can see the drain. I actually walked on the right side of the rail. There is actually no sign saying I cannot walk there neither is there any sign saying one should not walk on the grass.

Further down there is two big water pipe blocking the way. I had to take to the grass patch to circle around it. There is actually a walking path on the left side of the railing. It is covered with grass but still walkable. There is a crossing available to the other side of the drain but there is no path available unless you want to walk on the grass patch. The drain will end up at Upper Thomson Road.

Upon crossing at the traffic junction, you will be in Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park already. This is a thin and long stretch of a park divided by the Marymount Rd.

It is only here that I can see warning signs about wild boars.
Took a few pictures of the trees, flowers, ponds etc.


The water lilies are quite nice but cannot take picture with Android phone as the zooming capability is very limited.

The above look like out of space. It is actually a slide in the children's play ground. Further down there is a much longer slide like this.


You will seldom see comfortable bed like chairs in Singapore. This is one place where there are a number of reclining chairs like this.
To blend in to the environment, this shelter is made to look like a leaf. It is a metal structure with covered canvas.

Took me quite some time to get this picture. The android is just not that suitable for manual exposure adjustment.


Very colorful weed near the stream.


This picture was taken at the other end of the park near Bishan Road junction with Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. There is a bus stop (ID 54539) on Bishan Road. Available buses are 53, 55, 58, 156, 162, 162M. Alternatively, you could walk along Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 to Ang Mo Kio MRT. It is about three to four bus stop away.

The total distance walked is 7.1KM. If you want to take the walk, you can follow my trail at http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4264937



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